Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 161 Preparation, Arrival

The first year of Daxia, March 16, midnight
The mine on the south side of the valley.

Ding…ding…ding…ding…

Forty or fifty people were standing in different places in the mine, wielding toothed chisels. The sound of chisels hitting the iron ore was endless, creating a scene of bustling activity.

Everyone was shirtless, with sweat on their foreheads and sweat pouring down their upper bodies, and their pants were almost soaked with sweat.

"It's a pity that there are no women in Daxia who have broken through the Digging Realm. It would be interesting if they could be brought in to mine with us old men!"

As soon as Tong Xinglong opened his mouth, although everyone did not stop what they were doing, they all subconsciously turned their heads to look at others. When they saw each other, they were all very happy.

"Hahahahahaha, Lao Tong, your pants are soaked through."

"Hahaha, you're still energetic after a tiring day."

"We've been tired since last night, so which pants aren't soaked?"

"Huh... Mining is really tiring. From last night till now, I have only mined eleven pieces, which add up to just over four hundred kilograms. Previously, I saw that Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan could dig more than a thousand kilograms a day, so I thought it was easy!"

"Can it be the same? Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, Zhao Long and other adults all have a basic strength of more than 20,000. It is normal for their mining efficiency to be twice as high as ours."

"The chief is really good. On the evening of the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, he came to the mine to collect iron ore. I saw him chiseling for only twenty or so times before a piece of iron ore fell out. I estimate that the chief mines the ore himself, probably more than five or six thousand kilograms a day."

"Hiss, five or six thousand kilograms..."

When everyone heard the sound, they couldn't help but gasp.

There are more than forty of them, all of whom broke through to the Digging Ground Stage in the past half month.

The basic strength has just exceeded 10,000. Currently, with the use of a toothed chisel, the maximum amount of iron ore mined per day is only about 400 kilograms.

Five or six thousand kilograms a day is indeed unimaginable for them.

"In fact, we have already mined enough ore some time ago. When the leader came to collect the iron ore last night, he also said that it was enough. Why did Lord Xia Chuan call us all to mine last night, and why did he do it in such a hurry?"

Bai Wuting's tone was somewhat confused, and the others nodded upon hearing his words.

Ever since the mining competition began on January 27th, the camp's income from various resources has been astonishing.

Not to mention the wood, with more than 30 lumberjacks, they pull back at least kilograms every night. In the past days, just a rough calculation, at least points of wood resources have been collected.

Judging from the ranking on the timber list alone, this is indeed the case.

During the past period of time, the number of large trees within 500 meters outside Redwood Ridge has been visibly decreasing, which shows how crazy they are in mining.

If the leader did not have special means to transfer resources to other places, there would not even be enough space to store so much wood in the valley.

This is true for wood, as well as coal and iron ore.

Previously, there were only 17 people in the hunting team, and they also had to go out with Xia Hong to hunt intermediate-level cold beasts. There was insufficient time for mining, and the amount of mining in the early stage was indeed not large.

But with the start of the one-kilometer ban, their mining time increased, and in the following half month, new digging sites appeared every day, and the number of people mining increased.

As a result, the revenue from coal mines and iron mines will naturally increase.

"Just looking at the rankings, the total number of coal mines during this period should be more than 30,000 points, and the iron ore is even more, more than 60,000 points. If converted, it is more than 600,000 kilograms, which is indeed a lot."

Since the mining competition began, the amount of each resource earned in the base could be clearly seen through the list. Everyone made a rough guess in their minds and soon confirmed Bai Wuting's statement.

This inevitably makes things even more confusing.

The leader said that there are enough resources for a breakthrough, and the camp must have sufficient coal, iron, and wood for daily needs.

If that’s the case, why did Xia Chuan call all of them to the mine last night to mine iron ore?

"What other reason could there be? So many of us have broken through to the Digging Realm. Even if we only want to make swords and bows and arrows, we still need iron ore. It makes sense for us to hurry up and mine iron."

Xu An, who was standing at the side, couldn't help but speak up at this moment.

When everyone heard the voice, their eyes suddenly lit up.

Yup!

These people have broken through to the Digging Realm, but they do not have matching weapons yet.

"That's not right. We have a total of 46 people at the Digging Realm. Someone should be able to break through today. A broadsword and a bow and arrow only cost about a thousand pounds of iron ore. Even if we count 50 people, it's only about 50,000 to 60,000 pounds."

"There are more than 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms of iron ore left in the camp supply station. Why would we need to go to such great lengths to mine it?"

"There must be another use!"

Bai Wuting nodded, turned to look at his uncle Bai Dongying beside him, and asked, "Uncle Dong, do you know what Lord Xia Chuan is going to use it for?"

Regardless of what they said, neither Bai Wuting nor the others stopped chiseling while they were discussing.

Thinking that Bai Dongying was the captain of the logging team and must be more informed than them, everyone turned around curiously to look.

Ding…ding…ding…ding…

Bai Dongying frowned slightly, and spoke with a hint of speculation:
"I'm not sure, but I heard it's related to the Frost Beast, and one of the purposes of giving us weapons is that."

On the other side, the captain of the collection team, Cheng Feng, couldn't help but speak at this time.

"It seems that they are reinforcing the wooden house. Mu Dong and several people in the craftsman workshop have also broken through the digging realm. I didn't notice that they didn't come to mine?"

Everyone subconsciously looked at the crowd and found that Mu Dong and others were indeed not there.

It's related to the cold beast.

Reinforcement of wooden house.

When these two things were linked together, everyone's expression suddenly changed.

"Don't speculate. Instead of spending time here guessing, you might as well spend some time mining more iron ore. No matter what Lord Xia Chuan's purpose is, it's all for the safety of the camp!"

Shi Ping, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up and interrupted everyone.

When the others heard this, a hint of thought flashed across their eyes, and they immediately showed their agreement and continued to devote themselves to mining.

Indeed, their curiosity wouldn't change anything.

Iron ore, at present, has three functions:

One was used to help the leader Xia Hong break through; one was used to forge the weapons they would use; and the other was used to forge various tools and utensils for the camp.

No matter what Xia Chuan's purpose is, it is ultimately for the safety of the camp.

Besides, their work is not in vain. The iron ore collected will be converted into contribution points and credited to everyone’s account.

"Shi Ping, the iron ore upstairs is out of stock, collect it quickly and send it up."

Just at this moment, Lin Kai walked in from outside the mine again.

Upon hearing the sound, Shi Ping quickly put down his chisel, took down his leather bag, and recorded and collected the iron ore mined by each person in turn, and handed it directly to Lin Kai.

"They're using it up so quickly. Are all the last batch of more than 10,000 kilograms used up?"

Hearing Shi Ping's question, Lin Kai shook his head, with visible fatigue on his face, and said, "There are too many things to hunt. The 100,000 kilograms of reserves left by the leader at the camp have been used up. What you have is not enough. I will send this batch of iron ore up and it will come down soon. The rest of the hunting team will also come down and join us in mining."

hiss…………

The 100,000 kilograms of iron ore reserves at the camp have been used up.

The hunting team is also coming down to mine!

What on earth is going on upstairs?
After hearing Lin Kai's words, the confusion on everyone's faces in the mine became even stronger, and their movements unconsciously slowed down a bit.

"Lord Xia Chuan has ordered that all outbound activities in the camp will be stopped starting tonight. Except for the fifteen people who stay in the iron forge, the rest of the digging realm will stay in the mine to mine iron. Without his order, no one is allowed to leave. In a word, do your best to mine iron."

After Lin Kai finished speaking, he didn't care about everyone's reactions and hurried out of the mine carrying a bag of iron ore.

The others looked at each other for a while, a hint of nervousness unconsciously revealed on their faces, and then quickly plunged into the intense mining again.

They only knew a little about the situation of the cold beasts outside, but based on what Cheng Feng and Bai Dongying said, they could roughly guess it.

There must be a reason why Xia Chuan was so anxious to let them mine iron and left so many people in the ironworks.

The wooden house was reinforced, definitely to protect against the enemy.

The current enemies, apart from the cold beasts and monsters, are the Mirror Fairy Camp.

No matter which one it is, it is very dangerous for Daxia.

The last time the entire camp worked so hard to mine and forge iron was to fight off the swarm of rats on the north slope of the mountain.

It has been less than three months and a new situation has arisen.

Everyone in the mine couldn't help but feel tense, and their mining movements became faster and faster.

………………

The original one-kilometer ban was directly changed by Xia Chuan to a ban on going out.

Even the 500 meters outside Redwood Ridge are not accessible.

Now, not only the diggers who were mining iron in the mine, but also the rest of the people in the camp felt that something was wrong.

Especially as batches of iron ore were delivered to the blacksmith room from the mine, the sound of forging continued day and night, almost without interruption.

This made everyone more certain.

There must be something they don't know about.

At the very least, Xia Chuan didn't explain clearly to them what was going on.

The atmosphere in the Daxia Valley suddenly became tense.

All the diggers stayed in the mines and did not come out, mining iron day and night;

Once someone on the third floor broke through to the digging realm, they immediately took the rodent chisel and went to the southern mine cave;
More and more lumberjacks were called to the blacksmith's shop to help;

The remaining logging teams that had not yet gone also received Xia Chuan's order to move all the wood from both sides of the valley to the vicinity of the log house and pile them up...

All signs indicate that something big is about to happen!
Especially from Xia Chuan’s last order, it is not difficult to guess that there might be some powerful enemy coming to the camp.

Cold beasts, strange monsters, or Mirror Fairy Camp?
Even the five or six-year-old children in Daxia knew that the enemies the camp was currently facing were these three. All of a sudden, everyone began to speculate.

Of course, during this process, my mood naturally became heavier.

…………

March 17, the first year of Daxia

"It can't be a cold beast, right? Could it be a high-level cold beast?"

On the north side of the valley, Lin Wan inserted a huge tree diagonally and spoke to Shi Lu next to her with a worried look on her face.

Shi Lu shook her head upon hearing this and whispered, "It shouldn't be possible. I heard from my brother before that the most powerful beasts seen in Hongmu Ridge are only intermediate and advanced cold beasts. They don't even have the chance to come into contact with them. How could they suddenly break into the camp..."

Thinking that Lin Wan's husband and brother were both in the hunting team, Shi Lu continued to ask:

"Sister Wan, don't your husband and brother know?"

Thinking of her husband Yue Feng and her brother Lin Kai, Lin Wan looked even more worried:

"They haven't returned home since the night before yesterday. At first, they stayed in the iron forge. Later, Lin Kai went mining with a few other people. When we asked them, they didn't say anything..."

"My family is the same. He has been staying in the iron forge since the day before yesterday. My brother also went to the mine to mine iron and hasn't come out yet."

After hearing Shi Lu's words, Lin Wan remembered that her husband Yuan Cheng and her husband Yue Feng were both in the hunting team.

"After nightfall, I saw Mu Dong and a group of people carrying out a lot of iron lumps and thick chains from the blacksmith's room and installing them at the four corners of the wooden house. They also carried out a large iron door and replaced the original one.

They used so much iron to reinforce the wooden house, and asked us to carry wood to block the surrounding areas. Judging from this posture, it must be to protect against cold beasts. I just don’t know what kind of cold beast it is that requires such strict defense.”

Although Lin Wan is a woman and her strength is only at the lumberjack level, her husband and brother are in the hunting team, so she knows more than others.

The camp uses stoves, fire condensing oil, torches and other things to deal with monsters. This time, so much iron was used to reinforce the wooden house and so much wood was piled around it. It was probably used to deal with the cold beasts.

But this made her even more confused.

According to my husband and brother, they cannot come into contact with high-level cold beasts, and mid-level cold beasts certainly cannot threaten the camp.

There was no need to do this to deal with the people in the Jingxian camp. When he came back a few times before, Yue Fengke said in person that Xia Hong's strength was enough to shock the Jingxian camp, and they would definitely not dare to come to him on their own initiative.

The camp's activity range has been reduced during this period just to accumulate strength. Once the number of people in the Digging Realm increases, the Mirror Immortal Camp will no longer be a threat.

"Could it be that the rats have come back again?"

It was not only Lin Wan and Shi Lu who had such confusion, the rest of the people in the camp were the same. However, due to the limitations of their strength and knowledge, most people could only guess the result of the cold-proof beast.

It is actually very good to be able to get the result of the rodent swarm.

Only a very small number of people who knew about the recent disappearance of cold beasts outside Hongmu Ridge, combined with Xia Chuan's orders in the past two days, had a terrifying guess in their hearts.

Of course, when they came to this horrifying guess, they also suddenly understood why Xia Chuan didn't say it publicly.

After realizing this, they all unanimously adhered to the principle of silence.

………………

The first year of the Great Xia Dynasty, March 18th, near nightfall

Clang…clang…clang…

On the second floor, in the blacksmith room, the sound of forging could be heard constantly.

Fifteen people were divided into three groups, each surrounding a furnace, and each holding a hammer to hit the iron embryo on the furnace.

Zhao Long's group of five people forged arrows.

There were also hundreds of woodcutters nearby, helping to melt arrowheads and sharpen arrowheads, so the efficiency was the highest, and arrows were produced almost in batches;

The group of five people including Luo Yuan and Mu Dong forged iron-framed bows.

Luo Yuan led three Digging Realm people to forge bow frames, while Mu Dong led more than ten Woodcutting Realm people to assemble and adjust bowstrings. It can be seen that there are already forty or fifty iron-framed bows placed next to Mu Dong. One of them is obviously larger than the others, and the color of the bowstring is also different. It is not completely transparent, but transparent with a hint of white.

The team of Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng was forging a long and narrow piece of iron. Before it was formed, it was impossible to tell what it was.

But next to them, there were more than fifty lumberjacks squatting on the ground, each holding a big knife and constantly sharpening it, obviously also sharpening it.

No matter whether it was the fifteen people who were forging or the other woodcutters who were helping out on the side, all of them were sweating profusely at this moment.

Although their faces were filled with fatigue, everyone's expressions were extremely focused. Except for the occasional sweat seeping into their eyes and them raising their hands to wipe it off, there were no other unnecessary movements.

Dong dong dong......

There was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, Shi Ping hurried in and put a bag of iron ore next to Xia Chuan.

"How many pounds?"

"Half a day's supply, a total of more than 12,400 kilograms."

After hearing Shi Ping's answer, Xia Chuan did not stop his actions. He thought for a while and then said, "Send them to Zhao Long and use them all for shooting arrows."

"Yes, my lord!"

Shi Ping delivered the iron ore to Zhao Long and immediately turned back.

"Sir, the wood from both sides of the valley has been piled up around the house. As you said, we have built wooden walls in a diagonal and cross-shaped pattern. Special iron spikes have been inserted into the outermost part and the top, and the roof of the wooden house has also been installed.

In addition, the wooden walls and the outer edges of the wooden house have been covered with a layer of Tengjiao skin, and everyone has been informed of this.

The entire valley now only has a small opening for one person to enter and exit, which can be sealed at any time."

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan immediately turned around and looked at Luo Yuan beside him.

To be precise, he was looking at Mu Dong who was adjusting the bowstring next to him.

Mu Dong noticed Xia Chuan's inquiring look and immediately nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir. I have already brought people to reinforce the wooden wall structure with iron last night!"

After hearing this, Xia Chuan showed a relieved expression and turned to look at Shi Ping:

"The other people in the camp have been talking a lot these past two days, right?"

Shi Ping nodded and said in a deep voice: "With such a big move, everyone probably has an idea in their mind, but they are not sure. A few people have guessed that it is to prevent a large number of cold beasts, but they should also know that you are not sure, so you didn't tell everyone."

Hearing this, Xia Chuan shook his head slightly, with a hint of worry in his pupils.

Of course, he didn't hide it from the others on purpose. The key point was that he himself was not sure whether the disappearance of the cold beast was related to the monster in the Mirror Fairy Camp.

For matters like this, of course, we should adhere to the principle of "it is better to believe it than not to believe it".

After all, if there is a real connection, it would be a big problem.

Preparation work must be done.

But whether to publicize it or not is another question.

If I tell it out and it turns out not to be true, it will cause everyone a false alarm. There's no need for that.

Don't tell anyone and just do the preparations as usual, there won't be much difference.

"I also hope it's not true. The leader has been in seclusion and there has been no movement until now. It's not appropriate to disturb him for something uncertain.

We should just do the preparations. If the disappearance of the cold beast is just an accident, then we can treat this as a test for the camp. The iron ore has to be mined anyway, it's just ahead of schedule."

After hearing Xia Chuan's words, Shi Ping turned around and looked at the many weapons and iron tools that had been made in the wooden house, and nodded excitedly.

"That's not right, this is almost beyond the limit, right?"

"We have already made forty-nine iron bows. How many Digging Realms have we broken through recently? Only about fifty or so, right?"

"The bows are not enough. We made fifty-two swords last night. That's more than enough. Hehe."

"You are talking without any pain in your waist. How can sword fighting be compared with bow fighting? If you have the guts, you can forge the bow and I will fight with the sword. Let's see who is faster!"

The bickering between Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan made the ironworks less dull.

Xia Chuan did not say anything to stop them. After two days of hard work, everyone really needed to relax.

From March 15th to March 18th, during these three days, from the initial 17 people to the final 15 of them, almost all of them were forging.

It is tiring, but the results are undoubtedly amazing.

In addition to the forty-nine ten-stone iron-framed bows, fifty-two broadswords, and iron arrows that are being forged, there are also various iron materials used to reinforce wooden houses and wooden walls, all of which were completed within these three days.

Of course, it is impossible to forge so many things with just fifteen of them.

Fortunately, Daxia currently has enough people at the Digging Realm, and more and more people are able to participate in forging.

Just like the previous incident with the rat swarm, in the first three days, as long as the mining speed exceeded the forging speed, that is, the iron ore overflowed, all the Digging Realms in the mine would come up to help; if the situation was the opposite, the Digging Realms would go down to mine.

This really made it almost impossible for them to complete a task.

"With the thickened wooden walls, reinforced wooden houses, Teng Jiao poison sacs, and the continuously forged iron bows and broadswords, all the necessary preparations should have been made. This is what Big Brother said, do your best, and the rest is up to fate!"

Xia Chuan took a deep breath and continued to forge the long and narrow iron blank on the furnace.

As soon as he started, the rest of the people in the room stopped chatting and went back to forging.

The incessant sound of forging echoed throughout the room again, spreading to every corner of the cabin.

The noise in the blacksmith room has been going on for three days, and everyone has long been accustomed to it.

It was not yet nightfall, and there was still more than an hour before dark. It was daylight outside. Except for the diggers who remained in the mine and the nearly two hundred people busy in the blacksmith room, most of the other people in the camp were still asleep.

After forging for half an hour, Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng and the other three couldn't help but show a hint of excitement on their faces as they saw that the long and narrow iron blank in their hands was almost taking shape.

"Sir, something happened!"

Just when Xia Chuan was preparing to forge the iron blank in one go, a man suddenly walked in from outside the door with an anxious look on his face.

"Third floor, the marker stone on the third floor has responded!"

"Keep forging, don't stop. I'll go take a look."

Xia Chuan's expression changed drastically when he heard the voice. He dropped the grinding hammer and told the others to rush up to the third floor with that man.

The main hall on the third floor was a martial arts training ground. At the moment, many people were practicing inside. When they saw Xia Chuan coming up, they all saluted.

It’s a pity that Xia Chuan didn’t want to pay attention to them. He just waved his hand and followed Shi Ping to the center.

In the center of the main hall stands a half-meter-long diamond-shaped jade stone.

The four corners of the jade all emit a fluorescent light. There is a fan-shaped area on the transparent mirror in the middle. There are more than 30 sparkling red dots in the middle of the west side of that area, and more are being added in the future.

"Sir, apart from practicing these days, I have been staring at this marking stone all the time. Just now, a red dot suddenly appeared, and then a new one appears every few minutes. So far, there are more than 30, and the number is still increasing!"

Tong Xingsheng looked a little puzzled. His elder brother had broken through to the Digging Realm ten days ago, which made him extremely envious. He had originally planned to break through in one go on the third floor, but Xia Chuan suddenly gave him a task, which was to observe the changes in this prismatic jade.

What changes can a piece of jade undergo?
Although Tong Xingsheng was puzzled, he naturally had to obey Xia Chuan's orders. In addition, Xia Chuan's extremely serious tone when giving instructions made him take it even more seriously.

He could only practice while staring at the jade and observing the changes at any time.

Today, there really was a change.

Seeing the horrified look on Xia Chuan's face at this moment, he immediately realized that the change in the jade might be related to the fact that Xia Chuan was so anxious to mine and forge in recent times.

After staring at the fan-shaped area on the diamond-shaped jade stone for several days, Tong Xingsheng had already guessed that it should represent an area one kilometer outside the camp.

The fan-shaped area is the base, so the red dot can't represent...

When Tong Xingsheng's expression changed in shock, the diamond-shaped jade stone changed again.

Dozens of red dots suddenly appeared below the west side.

From above, it’s coming too.

No, it's not over yet.

The number of red dots on the edge of the fan-shaped area continued to increase continuously, and soon skyrocketed from hundreds to several hundred, and there was no sign of slowing down.

What’s even more terrifying is that the red dots have begun to approach the east.

"Go and inform the people in the mines, come back!"

"Go wake everyone up, go wake everyone up, quick!"

Xia Chuan's expression changed in shock. He said something to Tong Xingsheng, then turned to look at the people in the martial arts training ground and gave orders directly.

Tong Xingsheng had already guessed it, and as soon as Xia Chuan spoke, he went downstairs immediately.

Everyone in the martial arts training ground was stunned at first, but they quickly reacted, stopped practicing, and quickly ran down.

Finally, he turned his head to look at the door of Xia Hong's room, took two steps forward hesitantly, and finally gritted his teeth and stopped.

Dongdongdong…Dongdongdong…

Just at this moment, a sound of earth-shaking came from the ground.

Xia Chuan suddenly looked up to the west, in the direction outside the valley, swallowed, and quickly rushed downstairs.

It was daytime, no doubt about it.

The beast tide is really coming!

He really didn't guess wrong.

The strange monster in Jingxian Camp actually controlled the cold beasts to attack the base.

Although sufficient preparations had been made, one could still think of the hundreds of red dots on the marking stone and feel the violent shaking of the wooden house at this moment.

Xia Chuan's heart was still trembling.

"What's shaking?"

"What's going on with all this noise?"

"Why did you call us back from the mine during the day?"

…………

The noise was so loud, and with the people in the martial arts training ground scattered around to notify everyone, most of the people who were still sleeping woke up quickly.

(End of this chapter)